Orgalutran® is an innovative new product that reduces the time patients will be treated in IVF (in vitro fertilization) from 4 weeks to less than 2 weeks. As a result, patients given Orgalutran in the drug phase of their IVF program will have a much simpler procedure. Their exposure to drugs is reduced, as are the physical and emotional burdens associated with IVF treatment.

Orgalutran prevents the premature rise in levels of a hormone called luteinizing hormone (LH), during specific infertility treatments such as IVF and ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection). During stimulation of the growth of multiple follicles with gonadotropins such as follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), a rise in LH at too early a time may have unfavorable effects on the eggs and the possibility of getting pregnant.

Two types of treatment regimens are being used to avoid an early rise in LH: Gn-RH-agonists and Gn-RH-antagonists (Gn-RH being gonadotropin-releasing hormone). Orgalutran is a Gn-RH-antagonist that has the ability to instantaneously shut down the body’s own hormone activity. It achieves immediately what Gn-RH-agonists can take 2-3 weeks to do, and is therefore only required during the final days of stimulation.